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Nov 10, 2018

Turkish police 'end search' for Jamal Khashoggi's body

Sources say authorities will not continue search for writer's body, which is believed to have been dissolved in acid.
Turkish police are ending the search for Jamal Khashoggi's body, but the
criminal investigation into the Saudi journalist's murder will
continue, sources told Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera has learned on Friday that traces of acid were found at the
Saudi consul general's residence in Istanbul, where the body was
believed to be disposed of with the use of chemicals.

The residence is at walking distance from the Saudi consulate, where
Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist critical of the Saudi government
and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed on October 2 by a team
of Saudi officers and officials.

Saudi Arabia attempted to cover up the killing by initially insisting
that Khashoggi had left the consulate. It then changed its narrative,
saying the journalist died in a fistfight. Later, Saudi Arabia admitted
Khashoggi was killed in a premeditated murder, but that to killing was
an unplanned "rogue operation".

Turkish and Saudi officials have carried out joint inspections of the
consulate and the consul's residence, but Turkish President Tayyip
Erdogan said some Saudi officials were still trying to cover up the
crime.

Erdogan, who has repeatedly demanded more information from Saudi Arabia,
has also asked Saudi officials to say who in Riyadh sent the 15-strong
team that is suspected of the killing

Al Jazeera's Jamal Elshayyal, reporting from Istanbul, said that Saudi
officials, despite officially claiming that they would cooperate with
their Turkish counterparts, so far have not only refused to do that but
possibly tried to tamper with the ongoing investigation.

"They namely did this by sending in chemical experts [in the consulate and consul-general’s home] to destroy evidence," he said.

"They also denied Turkish requests to once again search the
consul-general’s home, after Turks found samples of chemicals in the
garden of the residence."

Istanbul's chief prosecutor said on October 31 that Khashoggi was
strangled as soon as he entered the consulate and that his body was
dismembered, in the first official comments on the case.

Saudi Arabia has said it arrested 18 people and dismissed five senior
government officials as part of an investigation into Khashoggi's
killing. Ankara also seeks extradition of the suspects

Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Erdogan, told Al Jazeera after Saudi top
prosecutor Saud al-Mojeb left Istanbul, that the visit was a
disappointment for the mutual investigation process.

"The agreement between the two sides to cooperate in the case raised
expectations to shed light on the details of the killing of Khashoggi
and who was behind it," Aktay, who was also a friend of the journalist,
said.

"But the Saudi officials seem like they have come to Istanbul to be able
to obtain the information Turkey has on the murder, rather than mutual
sharing of information on the case."https://www.geezgo.com/sps/46111